Awkward Moment Seal Wants to Help You Express Your Profound Shame

We all know the feeling he represents: It comes when a moment of social embarrassment closes around you like a steel trap, and anything you do is certain to make things worse. Should you change the channel when your parents walk in during a graphic sex scene on TV, or silently endure it hoping that the moment will pass unacknowledged? There is no right answer, and Awkward Moment Seal perfectly crystallizes that instant of frozen discomfort with his unblinking expression and the slightly agonized tilt of his little seal eyebrows.

Awkward Moment Seal first surfaced on Reddit last week, courtesy of aptly named Redditor Walrusmeats, according to Know Your Meme. While we've seen Advice Animals that deal with embarrassment before, notably Socially Awkward Penguin, this new meme conveys an important distinction: Rather than inviting humiliations through personal ineptitude like the Penguin, the Awkward Moment Seal is simply thrust into embarrassing situations, and must soldier through nonetheless.

In other words, it's not your fault. The seal knows this. You can see it in his eyes. Look to him for comfort in your moments of trial, friends. Within those black pools of infinite compassion lie the knowledge that he understands; that even though you walk through the valley of the shadow of watching sex scenes with your parents, you need not fear, for he is with you—now and forever. Blessed be his meme.